Seattle Press on Line - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

May 29, 2001 -- Speak Out to Save Fishermen's Terminal

To the Editor:

[Re: "Is Fishermen's Terminal Finished?" May 2 and 16] To raise funds for much-needed repairs, the Port of Seattle would like to open up the Fishermen's Terminal to pleasure crafts to raise monies. This poses a plethora of problems, not the least of which are these:

First, we are the only working Fishermen's Terminal in the country. All the rest have gone the way of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. This is a beautiful, fun-filled place, but when I visited last year there were very few working vessels docked there, only pleasure craft.

Second, this is a working, commercial environment, and it can be very loud, odorous and filled with "dirty and unkempt" dockworkers. The Port states the mooring of the pleasure craft will be temporary (5 to 7 years). If you were living somewhere you enjoyed, would you want to leave? Instead of mooring pleasure craft at the Terminal, a better solution would be to open up more slips at Shilshole or mooring at Bell Street. These marinas are already set up for pleasure crafts. Then, the extra funds could be diverted to the Terminal. It is the exact same end product, without disrupting the day-to-day working environment at the Terminal.

But, more importantly, the Terminal is a very special and sacred place to many of us, fishermen and nonfishermen alike. What would it be like to drive over the bridges and see no fishing boats, but yachts? Where will people take their children and grandchildren to see these majestic vessels? Where else can you hear old salts spin their yarns, accumulated over years of fishing?

This affects all of us, especially in King County, and every voice matters, whether you are in Ballard, Shoreline or Bellevue. Your voice will make a difference. We almost lost the Market a few years back. Please don't allow us to lose such a vital, vibrant, historic and economically viable resource as this.

Elisabeth Rankin
Friends of Fishermen's Terminal

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